Posts Tagged: Horror

Monday, November 09, 2015

Review: We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

Posted by 4 Comments

I received this book for free from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko JeanWe'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on October 6th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Horror, Psychological Thriller, YA
Source: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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two-half-stars

Murder.

Fire.

Revenge.

That’s all seventeen-year-old Alice Monroe thinks about. Committed to a mental ward at Savage Isle, Alice is haunted by memories of the fire that killed her boyfriend, Jason. A blaze her twin sister Cellie set. But when Chase, a mysterious, charismatic patient, agrees to help her seek vengeance, Alice begins to rethink everything. Writing out the story of her troubled past in a journal, she must confront hidden truths.

Is the one person she trusts only telling her half the story? Nothing is as it seems in this edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller from the debut author Emiko Jean.

I’m always up for a book that is creepy and messes with your head, and this sounded like it was perfect for that. Sadly, it really fell short for me. It’s supposed to be a mind fuck, but it was too predictable. It was supposed to be creepy, but it just wasn’t. I didn’t really like the main character much because she was kind of boring. Even though she is breaking all the rules and is out for murder, she just seemed a bit blah for me. And the love interest… there always has to be one of those right? He didn’t do much for me. He’s the one who is supposed to be all dangerous, but helpful, and really a sweetheart. Yeah, he met all those stereotypes on the surface. So basically this was just a kind of meh book for me. Even with it being short, it took ages for me to finish it because it didn’t hold my interest very much. I liked how it was told in past and present at least so it got a few points for that.

Alice is the main character. She has had a pretty shitty life. Bounced from foster home to foster home with her twin sister for her whole life. Oh, and conveniently her now dead boyfriend happened to live at a few of them with her. So, she is the good girl. Her sister Cellie is the one who causes all the trouble. Fire being her big thing. They had been in the mental hospital before, but now after a fire who killed her boyfriend, Alice is back there. And so is Cellie somewhere. Alice is determined to find her and kill her before Cellie kills her like she intended to in the fire. She meets a boy who is mysterious and surprisingly helpful and she thinks she might just win at getting to Cellie first. Along the way she also begins to fall for the boy. (I apologize, I don’t remember his name)

Boy who’s name I can’t remember is all sorts of mysterious of course. He is the dangerous, quiet sexy guy who no one can figure out. Well, he’s actually just a pussy cat. He is all broody and tough seeming, but that’s just for show. Not that he’s not helpful though. He really does try to help Alice. He does go about it quite wrong though. And of course he ends up falling for her too. What a surprise!

The way this is told is the books strong point. We get a chapter in the present while Alice is in the mental hospital, and we get the past so we know the history of Alice and Cellie’s life and what they have gone through. That all leads us into now. I liked learning about the past, but the present was where it lacked for me. I didn’t really care for Alice, and all the crap happening didn’t hold my interest. Also, I kind of figured everything out quickly which I suppose ruins the whole mind fuck aspect of things. Maybe I’m too picky or too clever, but I don’t really think so. I wanted to like this book, but our relationship just didn’t start off well, and crumbled pretty quickly. I hope that others have better luck with it than I did.

two-half-stars

2.5 Hot Espressos

Review: The House by Christina Lauren

Posted by on 10/29/2015 • 5 Comments

I do love a good creepy book so of course I wanted to read this. Right in time for Halloween, it was a spooky read. The characters were great and the story was really cool. Most importantly, House actually kind of scared me. The writing was fantastic at bringing you right into things. I was able to clearly imagine House and Table and other things moving about. It felt very magical at first, but then becomes scary and very unsettling.

Gavin is a boy who there are many rumors about. He lives in the “haunted house”, he doesn’t have parents, he’s weird, all sorts of stuff. He doesn’t have any friends, but it’s because he in fact does live alone. Well, not really alone, but he doesn’t have parents….

Review: Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Review: Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

Posted by on 09/10/2015 • 4 Comments

I love a good middle grade book filled with adventure and fun! This is a somewhat horror, but it’s not really all that scary. Of course, it’s for kids so that makes sense. The characters in this book were great, and I loved getting lost inside their adventure along with them. It’s such a great blend of fantasy, adventure, and great lessons. I think that is what really draws me to MG books. There is usually such a great lesson for kids thrown into all the fun and fantasy of reading the story. This one is a lot about family and I thought it was done so well. This book was published last year, but since I was invited to review the second book, I needed to read and review…

The Lost Girl (Fear Street Relaunch #3) by R.L. Stine

The Lost Girl (Fear Street Relaunch #3) by R.L. Stine

Posted by on 09/04/2015 • 4 Comments

As a kid I loved R.L Stine. I seriously would read his books over and over again. I had not yet gotten into any of the newer books he had written until now. I really do need to go back and read the first two books of this series, but this was fun and creepy. It’s wasn’t outright scary, but it does have a very subtle underlying feeling of doom throughout. I’m not a very easy person to scare, so it might be pretty scary to others, but I found it very enjoyable. The story was very interesting too, and I really liked how it all ended.

Michael is the MC in this. When Lizzy comes to town, he is instantly drawn to her, and his group of friends…

Review: What We Knew by Barbara Stewart

Review: What We Knew by Barbara Stewart

Posted by on 07/27/2015 • 2 Comments

Going into this I was hoping it would be a great horror/mystery, but it didn’t wow me. Yes, it had its creepy parts and a bit of mystery to it, but most of the story just wasn’t keeping my interest. It does cover some pretty awful topics such as rape and sexual abuse. I thought that part of it was good. (Not good in that I enjoyed it, but in the way it covered those things so well.) There is also cheating, which I really can’t stand. I know that it happens in real life, so I get that it is in books too. I just don’t care to read about it. It makes me really hate the characters. I did like the mystery behind Banana Man or whatever he…